Illusion device



w. D. PAYNE ILLUSION DEVICE Oct. 26 1926.

Filed April 2, 1925 Patented QctdZfi, 1926..

UNITED STATE WILLIAM D. PAYNE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

ILLUSION DEVICE.

Application filed April 2, 1925. Serial m. 20,260.

My inventionrelates to illusion devices and more particularly to devices which simulate the appearance of a coal fire in an open grate withoutthe presence of burning coals.

There is a demand for illusion devices of the character specified for use in dwellings and other buildings inwhich itis desired, for one reason or another, to dispense with an actual coal fire While retaining the agreeablevisual attributes of "such a fire. The object of my invention is to r'ovide such a device in a simple and economical but effective ferns.

Broadl my invention consists in furnishing fire p aces, coal'fire stoves or other heating 'unitsemploying coal, whether existing or specially designed for the purpose, with one or more gas, electric, or other lighting elements, and interposing between the light no ing elements and all positionsjfrom which they would ordinarily be observed a screen of transparent or semi-transparent material such as mica or glass, the said screen being tinted in such a manner that the transmitted light approximates the varying colors off a coal firm-and the. screen, moreover, being subdivided by strips of relatively opaque material into a number of small panels or windows of various sizes and shapes ape proximating the shapes and sizes" of the coals making up a bedof coals.

In the accom anying drawings I have illustrated one arm which my invention may take v I r Fig. 1 beinga perspective view of a coal fire grate of t e basket type as modified by my invention and inserted in a fire place of ordinary construction, the latter being only partially shown;

Fig. 2, a, transverse .centralvertical section of the same;

Fig. 3 a broken, detailed view on an enlarged scale of frame elements for holding the transparent or semi-transparent panels; and v v Fig. 4 a broken detail of a portion of the assembled screen,

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 indicates a tire place of the usual construction, 2-2 are supporting legs for a coal fire rate'of the basket type made up of longituf turned ends and transverse grate bars 4 of which one-is shown. As shown, the legs 2 are united at the top by means of a rectangular frame 5 to which the ends of the grate inal grate bars 3-3 having up-' bars 3 are secured. However, the details of the grate construction are not essential to my invention, the example shown serving to illustrate the adaptation to the uses of my which are preferably duplicates of one an other. The panels enclosed by the frames are crossed by interlacing strips or bars 11, which are of irregular or tortuous shapes and which are joined to one another to break up the main panel into'a number of smaller panels or windows of varying sizes and shapes. The shapes of the small panels should beniade to approximate, as nearly as possible in plane, the shapes and sizes of lumps of coal.

The pattern of the interlacing strips of the upper frame 9 should be substantially duplicated in the pattern of the lower frame 10 so that when the two frames are superimlposed the strips 11 of the upper frame w1 overlie and register with the strips of the lower frame.

In the illustrative embodiment shown the transparent or translucent members comprise irregularly shaped panes of mica 12,

-12 corresponding in size and shape to the anels formed by thestrips 11. As shown in Fig. 2 the panes 12 overlap at their edges and are clam ed between the frames 9, 10, the frames being held together by any suitable means such as bolts 13, 13. The panes 12 of the mica, which are of suitable material, should be tinted in such a manner as to give to the light passing through the panes from the lighting element 6 the color of burning coals. To enhance the illusion the panes should not be uniformly tinted but varying colors should be 'ven to the panes in difierent regions of t e frame in order to simulate'corresponding differences in a pearance of a burning fire. For examp e, the relatively dark spots which are frequently found in a coal fire should be represented in the screen of my invention by relatively darkcolored and less transparent panels, which'will give dark spots on the screen, and similarlv the tinting of other panes should be varied so as to give the illusion of burning coals of varying intensities of illumination from dull red to yellow or even white.

While the screen enclosed by the frames 9 and 10 may be sufficient to create the desired illusion, the elfect may be improved, if desired, by using additional screens. The front of the grate may be covered by a vertical screen made up in the manner heretofore described of frames 13 and 14, strips 11, and transparent or translucent panes 12.

The word translucent as used in the following claims is intended to cover any degree of translucency, including transparency.

It will be readily understood that changes of detail may be madewi'thin the scope of my invention, as broadly disclosed above, and I do not wish to be limited to the con struction shown, except as-required by the following claims.

I claim 1. An illusion device comprising in com bination, a source of light, at'ranslucent screen tinted to give to light transmitted therethrough the color of burning coals, and a network of relatively opaque material superposed upon said translucent screen said network being composed of irregularly shaped intersecting strips outlining a variety of irregularly shaped panels simulating in profile lumps of coal;

2. An illusion device as claimed in claim 1, in which the panes are variously colored to simulate the variations in color of different portions of a coal fire.

WILLIAM D. PAYNE. 

